Free season avatars 01 - seasons beginnings by sandra ulbrich almazan

his
    hair fell off, and his skin darkened. Kron stared in horror. This wasn’t
    supposed to be a side effect of his artifact. The swollen magnet emitted
    a mosquito-like whine as it turned red. Sal-thaath drowned out the
    whine as he howled. He rolled from side to side and pulled at the magnet
    with all twelve digits.
    “What did you do to him?” Salth screamed.
    Kron gasped for air. “I just neutralized his magic.”
    “You fool! He is magic! You’re killing him!”
    Sal-thaath shifted back to normal, then aged again. What did grow-
    ing old have to do with his magical legacy? Kron would have liked to
    question Salth about that, but there wasn’t time. He’d created the en-
    chantment; he should be able to banish it. But as Kron reached for the
    artifact on the boy’s head, it pushed his hand away. What? This
    shouldn’t be possible. Kron tried to mentally pull the magnet off of Sal-
    thaath. Again it didn’t respond.
    “Salth, a magnet, a crystal, anything else I can use on that artifact?”
    He felt around in his pouch but found only the hole made by the other
    magnet. “I can’t touch it directly.”
    Sal-thaath’s convulsions ceased.
    Salth was instantly at Sal-thaath’s side. “Get it off of him!” She
    reached for the magnet and scowled as her hand stopped before she
    6 2 · S a n d r a U l b r i c h A l m a z a n
    could grab it. Her arm trembled as she pushed forward, but it didn’t
    budge.
    Sal-thaath opened yellowed eyes. Some remote part of Kron’s mind
    noted the child now had only five fingers on his hand.
    “I…I hurt, Kron,” Sal-thaath whispered. “Why did you hurt me?”
    “I never wanted to hurt you, Sal-thaath. I just wanted you to be
    someone I could be proud of. ”
    A final breath left the boy's mouth, then he fell still. The magnet
    dropped off.
    Salth keened as she picked up the body of her son. “There must be
    a way to undo death!”
    Kron numbly reached for the magnet, so warm he could feel its heat
    a foot above it. Sal-thaath had been malicious, but he hadn’t deserved
    to die in pain and confusion.
    “Sal-thaath, my son, forgive me,” he whispered.
    Salth’s keens stopped. “Your son? He’s my son, all mine! I’ll take
    your life for his!”
    She dove at him, but Kron gripped her arms and kept her from
    clutching his throat. Her eyes glowed, and she whispered a few sylla-
    bles in a language he didn’t recognize. Air fled from his lungs and out
    of his mouth. When he tried to breathe, nothing entered his nose.
    What did she do? How did she bypass my protections? Panic made
    it hard for Kron to think of a way to counter whatever spell Salth had
    managed to work on him. Perhaps she would succeed in killing him and
    sending him to the next world. Would Sal-thaath be there, or would his
    unnatural origins mean he lacked a soul?
    The light in the room grew brighter. A sign of his approaching death,
    or something else? Salth seemed to notice the light too, and she let her
    attention slip from Kron long enough for him to let him put his hand to
    his throat. Salth’s spell weakened enough for him to gulp in a mouthful
    of air.
    “I knew it!” Salth turned her face upward and raised her hands as if
    she meant to grab something sent from the heavens. Light collected
    Sea so n s’ Be gin n in gs · 6 3
    around her. “But you’re too late. Is this enough magic to turn back
    time…time…time…?”
    She knelt and draped herself over her son’s body, covering him com-
    pletely. More light gathered around her until it seemed to form a shell
    over Salth and Sal-thaath.
    What is she doing? Kron found himself able to breathe normally
    again. However, he’d attracted a few particles of light. Fearful they
    would harden around him too, he tried to swat them away. His hands
    passed through them—or did they pass into him? If they did, they were
    more intoxicating than the finest wine. His head buzzed with ideas for
    artifacts more complicated than anything he’d ever made.